Lainey Wilson
Lainey Wilson claims that her 2022 album Bell Bottom Country, which earned her a Grammy, “truly changed her life.”
The 31-year-old country music icon, who won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in November, defeated Tyler Childers, Brothers Osborne, Kelsea Ballerini, and Zach Bryan to win the Best Country Album prize on Sunday night.
In her award speech, Wilson mentioned her childhood in the little Louisianan hamlet of Baskin. “Everyone I surround myself with, I think they’re farmers too, but they’re story farmers,” she remarked. “I would consider myself a farmer too.” “I think that’s exactly what this is tonight—getting up every single day, planting those seeds, watering them, and watching them grow. Sometimes, when you find the right farming community, you can have a harvest of a lifetime.”
Wilson’s song “Save Me,” which she wrote with CMA New Artist of the Year Jelly Roll, was also nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
Lainey Wilson: Who Is She?
Grammy-winning country music singer and songwriter Lainey Wilson is well-known for her hits, which include “Heart Like a Truck,” “Watermelon Moonshine,” and “Things a Man Oughta Know.” At the lainey wilson age of 19, Wilson—who was originally from Louisiana—moved to Nashville, Tennessee, with the goal of becoming a country music star. However, she battled for years to find success because many executives thought her musical style didn’t fit the contemporary genre. This view didn’t start to shift and Wilson didn’t become well-known until her songs began to appear on the hit television show Yellowstone in 2019. At the 2023 CMA Awards, she was the artist with the most nominations, taking home five wins, including Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.
Fast Facts
ENTIRE NAME: Wilson Lainey Denay
BIRTH: 19 May 1992
LOCATION OF BIRTH: Baskin, Louisiana
Sign of the Astrologer: Taurus
Lainey Wilson is from where?
Born on May 19, 1992, Lainey Denay Wilson grew up in the little town of Baskin, Louisiana, which has a population of less than 300. Her mother is a schoolteacher named Michelle Wilson, and her father is a fifth-generation farmer named Brian Wilson. Janna is the older sister of Lainey.
Her parents had a big impact on her fashion and music tastes even at a young age. At the family’s kitchen table, her father would play the guitar while Janna and Lainey would make up dance moves to go along with his tunes. Buck Owens and Glen Campbell, who Brian used to pretend to be as a child by standing on a picnic table and playing his guitar for passing cars, were two musicians that greatly influenced Brian. Lainey was a big fan of Dolly Parton too. Eventually, in 2021, she honored the renowned vocalist with the tune “WWDD,” which stands for “What Would Dolly Do?”
In a similar vein, Michelle influenced her daughter’s sense of style. When Lainey was a little child, her mother gave her a pair of bell bottoms, which are now an essential component of her stage wardrobe. Regarding the blue pants with the leopard print, Lainey told Billboard that “at one point, [my mother] was like, ‘You have to take them off, we have to wash them.” “I’ve always had a deep affection for retro-inspired media, including stories and music.”
Lainey took part in extracurricular activities such as basketball and cheerleading, but her favorite activity was music. She wrote her first song at the age of nine, and at eleven, she began playing the guitar, drawing inspiration from pop singer and fellow Louisianan Britney Spears. To be honest, I knew at the age of nine that this was something I would do. She said to Holler in 2021, “I knew it would be a journey, but I didn’t know how I was going to do it.”
Wilson got her first taste of performing while still in middle and high school, when she would pretend to be Miley Cyrus’s popular Disney Channel character Hannah Montana at public gatherings like birthday parties and nursing homes. In addition, she started a cover band, the Cadillac Kings, which performed at nightclubs and pubs even though its members were minors.
August 2011 saw 19-year-old Lainey go to Nashville, Tennessee, after graduating from high school with the intention of pursuing a career in country music.
Early Career Difficulties
Wilson’s first attempt at breaking into the industry wasn’t too successful, despite her confidence. After moving, the singer lived simply for three years in a camper trailer she parked in front of a recording studio owned by a family acquaintance who owed her grandfather a favor. In order to stay warm during the winter, she frequently slept with three pairs of socks and various jackets, as she revealed to Good Morning America in November 2022. She also had to ask her neighbor for electricity, water, and internet access.
She distributed CDs and samples as she strolled around Nashville’s Music Row, hoping to find a chance to launch her career. With her twangy voice and highly personal songwriting, Wilson was viewed by music execs as “too country for country,” in contrast to the pop-infused hits that were topping the genre. She told People, “I had a lot of people slam the door in my face.” “There were definitely times when I should have packed up and gone home—there were some difficult moments and days.”
She persisted nonetheless, not willing to give up. 2014 saw Wilson’s self-titled debut album released. After listening to Wilson’s song “Dreamcatcher,” Mandelyn Monchick, who was certain Wilson had “next level” talent, hired her as a manager a year later, according to The Washington Post. With the release of her second album, Tougher, in 2016, Wilson had her first chart success. The album peaked at a respectable No. 44 on Billboard’s list of Top Country Albums.
In 2018, Wilson signed with Broken Bow Records and secured a publishing contract. Wilson was still not a well-known figure in the country music world. To begin to change that, a new TV show would need to help.
Song and Its Place on Yellowstone
Wilson, like other up-and-coming country musicians like Zach Bryan, profited handsomely from having her music included in the Kevin Costner drama series Yellowstone.
“Working Overtime” from 2019’s second season of the Paramount series was the first song by Wilson to air. Since then, Wilson’s singles “Straight Up Sideways” and “Small Town Girl” from Season 3 as well as “Smell Like Smoke,” a song Wilson wrote especially for Season 5, have been featured by series co-creator Taylor Sheridan.
After a while, Sheridan offered Wilson an on-camera position for the fifth season of the show in 2022, not content to just share her music. Wilson, who starred in four episodes, portrayed Abby, a local musician in a romantic relationship with Ian Bohen’s character, Ryan, a ranch worker. I knew Taylor was trying to sort of help me go over that wall and give people a face when he told me, “I want to create a character specifically for you—I want you to wear your bell bottoms, sing your own songs, and pretty much be yourself,” the actress said to Variety.
Wilson was excited, but after her father, Brian, had a stroke and an infection, he almost gave up; he had to have nine surgeries, including having his left eye removed. But Brian urged that Lainey carry out her responsibilities after overhearing her talk about the matter on the phone at the hospital. She told People, “I said, Daddy, I can’t leave you.” “You better leave, and you better not return until the job is finished,” he added. That is the girl he brought up. I went that route and completed the task.
Success and Stardom in the Country
Wilson and her songs began to receive notice in Nashville thanks to Yellowstone’s success. The autobiographical song “LA,” which was a nod to her native Louisiana, was included in her 2019 EP Redneck Hollywood. Wilson also embarked on a tour with Morgan Wallen, another rising star in the country music scene.
One of Wilson’s greatest ambitions was realized not long after, in February 2020, when she made her stage debut at Nashville’s renowned Grand Ole Opry. Her breakthrough track, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” was released for radio play later that summer. Wilson had her first No. 1 hit when it peaked at the top of the Country Airplay chart in September 2021. The singer was also named Billboard’s top new country artist for that year. Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’, her studio album from 2021, also charted, albeit it only went as high as No. 40.
However, Wilson’s course was predetermined. Many popular singles from her Bell Bottom Country album from 2022 were released, including “Watermelon Moonshine,” which eventually became Country Airplay No. 1, and “Heart Like a Truck,” which peaked at No. 2. At the Country Music Association Awards that year, Wilson was nominated in six categories and took both the New Artist and Female Vocalist of the Year titles. “I swear, even if I’m new to many people, I won’t let you all down. I swear to you,” she remarked as she accepted her prize for the latter.
Grammy Award and CMA Entertainer of the Year
Wilson and Hardy worked together on two popular duets in 2023, “Save Me” with Jelly Roll and “Wait in the Truck,” fulfilling their agreement from the previous year. She also made a name for herself as one of the busiest musicians, saying in a radio interview from October that she had more than 160 shows booked for the year. “These are the moments that I’ve dreamed about and prayed for, even though it’s been difficult and hectic,” she remarked.
Not unexpectedly, praise kept coming in. At the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023, Wilson took home four awards, including Album of the Year for Bell Bottom Country and Female Artist of the Year, which she received from her idol, Dolly Parton.
Wilson then became the artist with the most CMA Award nominations for the year in September, having received nine. At the awards event in November, Wilson not only kept her trophy for Best Female Vocalist, but she also won five trophies overall and became the first female performer to win Entertainer of the Year since Taylor Swift in 2011. A few days later, she got even more excellent news in the form of two Grammy nominations for Bell Bottom Country’s Best Country Album and Best Country Duo-Group Performance for “Save Me.”
Wilson played on Christmas at Graceland, an NBC music program that aired from the well-known Memphis mansion that was originally owned by Elvis Presley, later in November.
As it turned out, in February 2024 Bell Bottom Country took home the Grammy for Best Country Album. Later in May, Wilson will kick off her Country’s Cool Again Tour, which will include over 35 events. She will also be a special guest artist on Morgan Wallen’s One Night at a Time Tour, making many performances.
Boyfriend
Wilson is single and has not disclosed any information about her personal life until recently.
Wilson went to the ACM Awards in May 2023 alongside Devlin “Duck” Hodges, a former NFL football player. People verified the couple’s relationship with the singer’s representatives. Subsequently, a month subsequent to the ACMs, Wilson disclosed that she and Hodges had been together for over two years on The Bobby Bones Show.
Through mutual connections, the couple traveled to Nashville, Tennessee in 2021 to meet. Wilson stated to People that she wished to determine whether Hodges was “in it for the right reasons” before revealing the nature of her relationship with the former quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Hodges, 27, is a real estate agent who gave up football in 2022. Wilson remarked, “He understands what it’s like to pursue a dream because he has done that for himself.” “But let me tell you, he is as valuable as gold. provides me with support and never gets in the way of my efforts. He says to her, “Go get it, girl.”
Loss of Weight
In recent years, Wilson has also significantly altered her diet and training regimens. The singer said that 2020 would be her “Year of Health.” In addition to eliminating processed foods, sugar, and dairy from her diet, she also hired a personal trainer. Together with a dedication to running and trekking, she has reportedly shed up to 70 pounds with these techniques.
Wilson thus gained notoriety in December 2022 for a TikTok video that featured the singer performing while sporting leopard-print leggings that accentuated her body. In a funny Instagram video, Wilson expressed his gratitude for the attention the video received, adding, “Whatever brings the people in, whatever brings the people in! However, I’m merely informing everyone to check out my album, Bell Bottom Country. In either case, glad to have you. I’m glad you found me, whatever you did.
